The deer [caribou] are the property of a spirit. The spirit sends them every year to the barren ground to feed in the summer and in the fall he drives them back east, to put them in a mountain which is so high that no Indian can go to the top of it, where they remain all winter, sheltered from the weather. The mountain is guarded by ants as large as frogs, by frogs as large as foxes, by foxes as large as wolves.... Should this spirit find the pelt of a deer ... left to rot, he would be so angry that he would search the whole country and not leave one deer for the Indian who left the skin in such a manner....

As told to James Clouston, explorer and fur trader, by his guide in 1820.

THE LAND:

A saucer-shaped depression, in places a featureless plain, this region is bordered on the west by the rugged Labrador Hills and on the east by the ancient granite hills of the George Plateau. The unyielding bedrock of the Canadian Shield underlies this area, though it is often hidden under glacial deposits and features such as drumlins and moraines. Permafrost is present throughout much of the region.

Broad boulder mudflats fringe the coast of Ungava Bay, which boasts some of the world's highest tides (as great as 18 metres) and strongest tidal currents.